No bail for man charged in hammer attack on 2 women

Video: Charges in Navy Pier hammer attack

Man charged in hammer attack near Navy Pier.

Man charged in hammer attack near Navy Pier.

Deanese Williams-Harris and Steve SchmadekeTribune reporters

A hammer-wielding attacker with a long history of mental illness struck two 55-year-old women walking near Navy Pier, causing a head wound to one woman that took about 30 stitches to close, Cook County prosecutors and his family said Thursday.

Jawaun Westbrook, 28, was released on parole last month for a conviction on two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, Assistant State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.

Westbrook’s family said he had been sent back to prison for violating his parole by cutting his electronic bracelet and that he was released June 19 after about 3 months in custody.

On Thursday, Westbrook, who has the word “Kill” tattooed on his left hand, was ordered held on no bail by Judge Peggy Chiampas on two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for the Tuesday night attack.

Westbrook struck two women in the head with a hammer as they walked in the 400 block of North Lower Lake Shore Drive at 6:30 p.m., Scaduto said .

One woman sustained a wound to the top of her head that required 25 to 30 stitches to close, while the other woman suffered bruising, Scaduto said.

The two women told police they were struck from behind, according to a police report. They were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment.

After the attack Westbrook ran southbound on Lake Shore Drive, Scaduto said. Bikers witnessed the attack near the popular tourist spot. Police, including bike patrol officers, arrested Westbrook and identified as the attacker, she said.

Reached by telephone, Westbrook’s mother, Theresa Jones, 53, said her son began showing signs of mental illness at age 18 and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She said she has tried for years to have her son hospitalized, but no one will take him unless he’s a threat to himself or others. He refuses to take his medication, she said.

He most recently was released from a hospital last month after being found walking naked down Lake Shore Drive, she said. And in recent days he had taken to calling 911, speaking gibberish and telling her if the police came he would fight them.

She said she left the family home one day when he told her “I’ll kill you,” but didn’t think she could call police for help because he hadn’t done anything to threaten her physically. Jones last saw her son on Sunday.

“I’ve been trying to find help for him, but it seemed like no one is willing to help,” she said, recalling the last time that she called police she was told officers couldn’t do anything .

“I’m sorry that that happened to them,” she said of the two victims from the Tuesday night attack. “But that’s what I’m trying to say, if the hospital would not let them out...if they made (him) take their medication, this world would probably be a safer place.”

During a brief hearing Thursday, Westbrook raised his hand and repeatedly tried to speak to the judge, but Chiampas told him to talk to his public defender instead.

“I don’t need you to be touching me, dog,” Westbrook then muttered to a sheriff’s deputy on his way out after the officer pointed him towards the lockup.

“Just walk to the back, tough guy,” the officer told Westbrook.

That prompted the judge to tell the officer his remark was improper and that it was her job, not his, to lecture defendants.